(Phys.org)—A team of researchers from several institutions in Australia has developed a model that sheds light on the social factors involved in getting users to cooperate on water conservation efforts. In their paper published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, the group describes the factors they used to build their model and what it revealed.

Throughout history, humans have been pulling water from rivers, lakes and streams to drink and to grow crops. More recently, humans have found it possible to access underground sources and have tapped into those, as well. Historically, there has been enough water to suit needs, but most scientists agree that is about to change. Underground water reservoirs such as aquifers are being depleted, and will soon run dry if something does not change. In this new effort, the researchers looked at the social factors involved when people in areas where water is likely to become scarce are pressed to cooperate in water conservation efforts.

To create their model, the researchers chose three real-world locations that are believed to be at risk: the Murray–Darling Basin in Australia, the Punjab on the India/Pakistani border and California's Central Valley in the U.S. They analyzed historical and physical data from all three regions, along with information from sources describing measures previously taken to coax such water users to conserve water, such as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in California.

The group also added factors that account for social norms using cultural theory (grid–group or plural rationality)—all to answer three basic questions. The first involved revealing the relationship between those seeking to monitor water usage and their enforcement abilities, and the degree to which farmers and other water consumers complied. The second sought to better understand how social norms are involved in resource conservation efforts; the third was to find out which of the three regions under study was most likely to succeed in their efforts.

The model showed that punishing water abusers in cooperative cultures such as in the Punjab was reasonably effective, whereas in places like the U.S. and Australia, the best approach appeared to involve inserting cooperative role models into a region who could persuade others to adopt conservation efforts.

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